Hungry

Genesis 42 - 43

Jacob is rich, yet his children and their children are hungry.  All the money in the world will not satisfy the hungry when there is no food.

How about our children?  Do they hunger?  We live in one of the most well fed countries, yet we still search for more.  Many (but not all) of our children in this country go to sleep at night in private or at least semi-private rooms with coverings that reflects their favorite cartoon, television star, or musician.  They go to sleep with full stomachs, maybe not filled with the healthiest foods, but they are filled with those things that they have desired.  Yet, they are hungry for more.  They go to sleep to dream about the things they hope will fill their hungry hearts.  Always seeking, never finding what it is that will fill their empty lives.

Jacob's family, in spite of their wealth (and we know he is wealthy because on the 2nd journey of his sons, they return to Egypt with double the amount of silver they had found in their sacks from the first journey), are hungry and the sons go to Egypt in hopes of finding food that will fill them. 

Their search for food to feed their family has led to the fulfilling a part of Joseph's dream.  His brothers have bowed down to him.  Yet, even as they bow down, we can see Joseph's love and compassion for them.  He exerts his authority publicly, yet he weeps privately.  Joseph, it appears, is hungry too - hungry to have his family love him.

I wonder, is this the hunger of our children - a hunger to be loved?  All those things - but - do they have family who really shares their lives with them?  Are they starving?  Who will feed them?  Who will satisfy their hungry hearts?

"Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35 (NIV)